WINNIPEG — Dozens of people, many clad in red, held hands as they formed a round dance on the streets outside of Winnipeg's law courts on the concluding day of the trial of an admitted serial killer. At the centre of the circle, a group of women, including the sister of one of Jeremy Skibicki's victims, stood together as they drummed and sang. The daughter of another victim carried a shovel painted red with the words Search The Land Fill drawn on it.
The families made it clear that although Skibicki's trial has wrapped up, their fight to bring home their loved ones is not over. "My cousin needs to come home. It's been over two years.
I don't even know why we're still sitting here anymore," Melissa Robinson, cousin of Morgan Harris, told media Monday afternoon. Skibicki, 37, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, 39, and three other Indigenous women: Rebecca Contois, 24; Marcedes Myran, 26; and an unidentified woman an Indigenous grassroots community has named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. His lawyers have admitted he carried out the slayings but argue he should be found not criminally responsible.
A forensic psychiatrist for the defence testified Skibicki was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the killings. The killings came to light after the partial remains of Contois were found in a garbage bin in Skibicki's neighbourhood in May 2022. More of her remains were discovered at a city-run landfill the following month.
The remains of H.